Geophysicist Devendra Lal passes away

December 08, 2012 07:30 pm | Updated 07:30 pm IST - NEW DELHI

Noted geophysicist and Visiting Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography [SIO] in California, USA, Devendra Lal, has passed away. He was 83.

An obituary notice on the website of SIO said he passed away at his residence in San Diego on Dec. 1.

Paying tributes to his contributions to earth and planetary nuclear physics during his 40-years of career at the Institution, the notice noted that he was both a caring and a demanding teacher.

Starting his research career at the age of 20 at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at Mumbai, the primary thrust of his work was in the field of cosmic ray physics, earth and planetary sciences and astrophysics. He was particularly interested in studying records of climate found in terrestrial minerals, and chemical history of ocean waters based on marine biogenic minerals.

His contributions included the setting up a national radiocarbon laboratory at TIFR to facilitate chronological studies of Indian archaeological sites going back to the Harappan era. He had also set up a Tritium Laboratory at TIFR which was later shifted to the National Geophysical Research Institute at Hyderabad.

He won the CSIR’s prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award in 1967 and was conferred Padma Shri in 1971. He was the recipient of NASA Group Achievement Award 9Skylab III), and Hans Peterson Medal from Royal Swedish Academy. He was Director of the Physical Research Laboratory from 1972 to 1983.

“The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, community is mourning the loss of [its] long time faculty member’’, the obituary notice of the Institution said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.